Vehicle-tongue draft appliance.



R. T. JENNEY.

VEHICLE TONGUE DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12. I914.

Patented May 4, 1915.

N K p I I! uIHIWVM/ S a? IN VEN TOR.

WITNESSES W 1/ ATTORNEY THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTC-LITHQ. WASHINGTON D C.

UNI

E sinus TET rion.

ROBERT T. JENNEY, 0F MONTICELLO, IOWA, ASSIGNOR ITO HALL MANUFACTURING 00., 0F MON'IICELLO, IOWA.

VEHICLE-TONGUE DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 12, 1914. Serial No. 866,313.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT T. JENNEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Monticello, in the county of Jones and State of Iowa, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Vehicle-Tongue Draft Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to adjustable hounds for steel vehicle-tongues.

WVagon-hounds vary greatly not only as regards their distance of separation but also with respect to their angular relationship or convergency. Therefore, in order that a vehicle tongue of the modern type may be made to fit or conform to practically any of the ordinary types or classes of wagon hounds, it is necessary that it be equipped with tongue-hounds which are not only adjustable bodily with relation to each other, but that either end of either or both be adjustable relatively to the wagon-hounds and to each other.

The primary object of this invention is to generally improve the construction and increase the capacity, utility and efficiency of devices of this character.

More specifically stated: A further object is to provide novel means for carrying out the ends hereinabove described.

A further object is to provide tonguehounds capable of a greater range of adjustments than any heretofore devised.

A further object is to improve the construction of the corrugated washer whereby flexing of the coacting parts, after ad ustment, is prevented.

That the mechanismconstituting the means for carrying out the above recited objects be durable, possessed of great strength and resistance, safe in operatlon, quick and simple of adjustment and secure thereafter, are prime requisites, and to provide such means for carrying out these ends constitutes still another object.

Minor objects will presently appear. Some of these will be obvious and others will be particularly noted.

The invention consists, substantially, in the improvements hereinafter described.

For the purpose of illustrating it I have shown in the accompanying drawings that form thereof which'is at present preferred by me, since the same has been found in practice to give gratifying results. However, I desire it to be distinctly understood that the several instrumentalities of which the invention consists can be variouslyconstructed, arranged and organized, and I by no means contemplate the scope thereof as limited to the particular structure shown and herein described, but consider it as cover1ng all such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof, considered in its broadest aspect. Moreover, many of the details and combinations illustrated are not essential to the invention, broadly considered.

In said drawings: Figure l is .a top plan showing my improvements as employed in use. In this view a portion of the tongue, a portion of the upper draft-plate, and a portlon of one of the tongue-hounds are broken away. Fig. 2 is a transverse section, taken in the plane of the line 22 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a similar view, taken in the plane ofthe line 8-3 in Fig. 1; and Figs. 4 and 5 respectively, a bottom plan and an edge eleva-p erably by rivets 6, 7, and their flanges 8, 8

and 9, '9 are spaced apart for a purpose presently described.

10, 10 indicate any suitable means, such as elongated rivets, for securing the plates 3 and 4to each other. Said plates are provided with registering openings for the reception of bolts 11 and 12, 12.

13, 13, designate connecting or extension arms, each formed practically in the form of a bell-crank. Near its forward end each arm is provided with a longitudinally arranged slot 15, and near its midlength with an arcuate slot 14. The fore portions of these arms have placement between the flanges 8 and 9 of the plates 3 and 4, between which they are adapted to move as hereinafter described, and the bolts 11 and 12 enter the slots 14 and 15 respectively:

' Patented May 4, 1915.

hound is shown as formed from a piece of U-shaped or channel iron.

20, 2O designate reinforcements fixed t0 the base of the hounds 18 adjacent the openings for the reception of the coupling rod.

At their forward ends the upper and lower -webs of the tongue-hounds are provided with apertures for the reception of rivets 21 or the like, by which they arepivotally connected with apertured bosses 22 on the rear ends of the extension arms 13.

23, '23 designate yoke-straps, curved at their midlengths to conform to the curvature of the tongue, to which they are fixed by rivets 24. i

25, 25 designate adjusting arms, each pro-- vided at its outer end with an apertured boss 26.

27, 27 indicate rivets,'one passed through the upper and lower webs of each tonguehound and through the aperture in the adjacent boss 26.

Each arm 25 has an upper corrugated face 28 and an elongated slot 29. i

30, 3O designate locking-washers, each having a corrugated face and each provided with a lug 31 projecting therefrom and adapted to slide in a slot 29, the corrugations engaging those on the coacting arm '25.

32,32 are bolts passed one through each washer 30 and'slot 29, and 33, 33 designate nuts thereon.

'35 designates an opening for the hammer or doubletree pin. V

The operation: Assume the elements to be in the relative positions s'hownin Fig. 1. Should itbe desired to adjust the rear ends of the tongue-hounds to a pair of wagon hounds having either greater or less convergence than those shown, the operator would loosen the nuts sufiiciently to permit the washer to move on the arms 25, whereupon, after the desired adjustments have been made, (the hounds pivoting on the pins 21,) said nuts may be drawn up to lock the parts securely together. The coacting corrugated faces of the washers and arms will of course tend to prevent the former from turning, but should one of the nuts 33 become loose the washer will be positively locked from turning, because of its lug 31 being seated (somewhat snugly) in the slot '29. Now assume it desirable to adjust the front ends of the hounds. The operator will loosen the nuts 16 and move said front ends either inward or outward. The slots of the arms 13 will ride the bolts 11 and 12 and the rear ends of said arms will, by reason of the pivot pins o-rrivets 21, he thereby moved laterally, but in such manner that the centers of said pins or rivets are maintained constantly on a line-designated by A, Fig. 1perpendicular or at right angles to the longitudinal central line of the tongue, and simultaneously the front portions of said arms will move in a forward or a rearward direction, according as the front ends of thehounds 18 are moved inward or outward, as indicated by the dotted lines in saidfigure. The main advantage gained bythese constructions are that they allow a greater rangeof adjustment'than has heretofore been attained, and the arms prevent the pivotal movement which would result from a fixed arm working on a single bolt, which pivotal motlon would have a tendency to throw the tongue hounds forward or back, 7

as the change was made, the result of which would be to cause the coupling pin 17 to bind in the hole in the tongue. 7

It will be readily seen that when the nuts 83 are loosened the hounds 18 will pivot on the pins 21, and that when the nuts 16 are loosened said hounds will pivot on the pins 27 but that when all of said nuts are drawn taut the structure becomes an extremely rigid and inflexible one.

A tongue-hound made of channel iron,

or in U-shape, not only possesses extreme strength and rigidity but is quite economic of manufacture. I

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent the following, to-witz- 1. A device of the character described comprising draft means, a pair of tongue? hounds, extension arms having each a pair of slots of which one is arcuate, bolts or the like connecting said arms, through said slots, with said draft means, and means for pivotally connecting said arms each with one of said hounds. Y 7

2. In a device of the character described, a tongue, a channel-iron tongue-hound, an extension arm pivoted between its webs,

said arm having an arcuate slot, draft means 7 secured to said tongue, and a bolt passed through an aperture in said draft means and seated in said slot, provision being made whereby to so guide the arm that the point at which it is pivoted to the hound will be adjustable in a line perpendicular to the tongue.

3. In a device ofthe character described, a tongue, means for adjusting a hound relative to the tongue and including a washer provided with a projection and a corrugated face, and corrugated means provided with a slot with which said projectionv cooperates, whereby said washer is prevented from turning relatively to said slot, and further whereby its corrugations are held always to r g ste wi h the co rugations of said .c'or+ r gated mea-ILS,

4. In a device of the character described, a tongue, a tongue-hound, a slotted arm engaged with said hound, connecting means interposed between said tongue and arm, means provided with a projection adapted to seat and move in the slot in said arm, whereby said means is prevented from turning relatively to said arm, and means for securing said arm, connecting means, and the last recited element in fixed relationship.

5. An extension arm for devices of the character described, said arm having an arcuate and a longitudinally arranged slot, draft means with which its forward end is connected, and a tongue-hound with which its rear end is connected.

6. An extension arm for devices of the character described, said arm having an arcuate slot near its midlength, draft means with which its forward end is connected, and a tongue-hound with which its rear end is connected.

7. In a device of the character described, a

of corrugated washers each provided with a lug, the corrugations of the washers adapted to engage those of said arms and said lugs to engage said slots, connecting means intermediate the tongue and said arms, and bolts for connecting each adjacent corrugated arm washer and said connecting means.

9. In a device of the character described, a tongue, a tongue-hound, an extension arm connected with said hound and provided with an arcuate slot, draft-means secured to said tongue, means for engaging said draftmeans with said slot, and means cooperating with said slot to so guide the arm that the point at which it is connected to the hound will be adjustable in a line perpendicular to the tongue.

10. In a device of the character described, a tongue, a tongue-hound, an extension arm connected with said hound and provided with an arcuate slot, draft-means secured to said tongue, and means cooperating with said slot and draft-means whereby to so guide the arm that the point at which it is connected with said hound will be adjustable in a line perpendicular with the tongue.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my sole invention I hereto subscribe my name, in presence of two witnesses, at Monticello, Iowa, this 6th day of October, 1914:.

ROBERT T. JENNEY.

Witnesses:

R. H. RIcKLnP, R. V. REIL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

